402: Broken Tower of Babel

The sweeping Sword Intent seemed to slash from the distant past all the way to the present, continuing westward after severing four Golden Core Players in succession.

The players behind had received news in advance, either preparing defensive measures or retreating at maximum speed.

However, strangely, before the Sword Intent with its terrifying power even arrived, the dreadful pressure attached to it had already intimidated the players in advance.

It caused everyone to freeze in place, unable to move, as if locked on by the spiritual eye of some sword Great Master, exposing all their vulnerabilities and leaving them only to wait for death.

Swish!

The invisible yet sharp sword edge arrived in an instant, severing the three foremost Golden Core Players all at once.

These three players were all broadcasting live, and because of their prominent positions, a large number of players had flooded into their Livestream Room, including Golden Core Players far away within the Immortal Dynasty.

The terrifying event happened in a split second, and it wasn't until the subsequent review that the players realized what it actually meant.

And now, when the viewers in the Livestream Room witnessed the three Golden Core Players perish simultaneously, and a momentary emotion called "fear" sprouted within them...

The Sword Intent suddenly crossed space, ignored time, and grew wildly within their hearts.

Then, the sharp sword edge pierced out from their Sea of Consciousness, instantly severing the viewer players from the inside out.

Until the scene before their eyes turned into the black curtain of death, the viewer players still hadn't managed to react.

"Just now... what happened?"

A Golden Core Player who died while spectating stared blankly at the black screen, re-entering the Livestream Room, still feeling dazed.

As for the players currently on the Ancient Battlefield, they were almost in despair.

Wen Xinghai made an analysis in a very short time:

The triggered Sword Intent was not traditional Sword Qi that could slash people, but pure True Intent.

This True Intent would suppress enemies, propagate through the enemies' "witnessing" in a leapfrog manner, and then use the enemies' Sea of Consciousness to grow, mobilizing the enemies' own power to materialize the Sword Intent, thereby severing the enemies.

There was simply no way to resist.

Wen Xinghai wore a bitter smile, knowing that everyone was finished this time, and could only rely on luck to see which players happened to not be within the range of the Sword Intent.

Since the Mingshui Heaven Spear Intent Legacy, many players had started researching the True Intent and Dao Heart System, but with little success.

Many research-oriented players, as well as players from the Hundred Mechanisms Pavilion, eventually concluded: these things were means exclusive to fourth-grade and even higher-level Cultivators.

If a fifth-grade Golden Core runs into it, they might as well just wait for death.

Swish!

The surrounding wind seemed to be driven by the Sword Intent as well, emitting a sound like a great wave, pressing over rapidly yet heavily.

Those behind, whether Golden Core Players or Foundation Establishment players, were all fleeing for their lives.

A moment later.

Wen Xinghai stood on the ground of the Ancient Battlefield, panting after surviving the disaster.

After discovering the anomaly, he had closed the frontline Livestream Room at the first opportunity.

Then he used a secret technique, even burning some of his cultivation, only then managing to escape successfully.

"Fortunately, it was, after all, Sword Intent from who knows how long ago. Although its power was enough to kill all the Golden Core Players present, its range was ultimately limited, not enough to wipe us all out..."

"No, rather than distance, it seems more like the large number of players who consumed the Sword Intent's strength through the Livestream Room allowed us to survive..."

Wen Xinghai scanned the area and confirmed through the temporary team channel.

Currently, including himself, there were only five Golden Core Players remaining who were still alive and remained on the Ancient Battlefield.

As for the Foundation Establishment players, there were only two thousand or so left.

Although not a total wipeout, it was very close.

Wen Xinghai pondered for a moment and issued a new order:

"Continue moving forward."

"Since we have already lost so much combat power, and the loss is irreparable, we might as well leverage the advantage of this deep penetration to continue gathering information inside."

"If I haven't guessed wrong, that Dragon let us explore and hunt for Treasure on the Ancient Battlefield with the intention of having us trigger traps and then wiping us all out."

"Then, we won't touch anything next; we will only move forward and only collect information."

The remaining players did not hesitate and nodded directly in agreement.

Not long after, the five Golden Core Players—Wen Xinghai, Ye Chun, Wang Long, Shao Kaitian, and Xiao Buyu—gathered together.

Xiao Buyu, as a fifth-grade Formation Great Master, was surrounded by the others, took out a Formation map, and set up a mobile concealment Formation.

Subsequently, the five of them continued moving east together.

The further east they went, the more jade bones they could see, and the more traces of various battles appeared. Naturally, broken Treasure Artifacts also littered the ground; various fragments had remained uncorrupted despite how much time had passed, clearly possessing top-tier material quality.

With the lesson from the previous Sword Intent, Wen Xinghai and the others dared not touch them again, only continuing to move forward as much as possible at a high altitude.

"Look!"

Suddenly, Shao Kaitian's eyes lit up: "Look ahead, there seems to be a tall pagoda... eh, it looks like a broken tall pagoda..."

There was no need for him to say more; the Spiritual Sense range of the Golden Core had long since covered the strange sight before them.

It was a Heaven-Reaching Pagoda rising from the ground, earthy yellow in appearance, with some white bricks and tiles peeling off due to time, presenting a huge cylinder with a constant radius, straight upward.

After about several dozen li upward, it suddenly broke off, as if struck directly by some immense force; the break was not smooth.

Near the ground, there were also many fragments scattered about. Although they were called fragments, the quantity was truly too large, densely covering the area as if it were some kind of architectural ruin.

Wen Xinghai flew downward and saw a huge stone tablet with ancient text on it.

The five discussed it, but all were illiterate and could not recognize the ancient text.

They had no choice but to risk opening the Livestream Room to ask other players.

After waiting for about a quarter of an hour, a player who was unwilling to reveal their name said:

[I have a book recording ancient texts by my side; although the records are incomplete, it just so happens to match the characters on the stone tablet.]

[The meaning of these characters is:]

[The path to Heaven starts here.]

"The path to Heaven?"

Wen Xinghai raised an eyebrow: "Could it be the road to the Burial Emperor Star?"

The others were also quite moved.

"It seems that we have found something incredible?"

"The Treasure of the Ancient Battlefield, the Heavenly path to the Burial Emperor Star... even if the risk here is immense and we could be wiped out at any moment, I think the next gathering will definitely attract more players."

"Buyu, take a look, are there any traces of a Formation here?"

"I can see traces of a Formation, and it's a terrifying Formation at that, but... it has been completely destroyed. If it wasn't of an extremely high grade, capable of leaving some lingering effects in this world, even I wouldn't have been able to discover it."

"In that case, the battle that broke out here was a battle centered around this Heaven-Reaching Pagoda?"

At this moment, the expressions of the five changed.

The previously disappeared Dragon flew over from further east, with a somewhat complex expression on his face.

He spoke up:

"You really have guts, to actually dare to come to this place step by step..."

"Then there's no other way... we can only have a good talk..."